The Dark Side of Time
by Supreme.Empress.DragonGirl
Summary: A familiar story, but from time's dark side... Okay, I lied. I took a lot of liberties. But the general story works out the same way.
1. Marshlight

Split apart. Torn away. Turned against. Forgotten, lost, replaced. Such is the life of one who was made by magic of something else. It's so hard to find a place, for someone who wasn't even real. Someone who isn't real. There's no acceptance, no friendship. For someone who doesn't have a place in the pattern of the world, there isn't anyone else. Someone like that is alone. They're all they've got.

But you learn to cope with it. Because, really, does anyone really look out for anyone but themselves? When people help each other, isn't it more for their own good than their companion's? Who really cares about anyone else?

I never saw the point in having friends. If you can't look out for yourself, you can't expect others to look out for you. That was always what I thought. And I didn't see any point in ever changing my mind.

Sure, sometimes it was lonely. Sometimes I wanted someone to talk to. But mostly I was bored. There's just nothing to do when no one wants you to do anything. Anything, that is, other than guard a temple that no one comes to in the first place. That's what I was doing while I thought about this. For a while, I'd been okay doing nothing. Now I was bored out of my skull.

I sighed, perched in the branches of a tree, and drummed my feet against the trunk. I looked all around. No one in sight. I knew who I was looking for: Link, a kid in Kokiri clothes. I sighed again and then said, more to myself than anything, "Link, are you _ever_ going to come?"

Of course, there wasn't an answer. I tipped my head back to stare at the stormy sky. If he was coming—which I was beginning to doubt—then he wouldn't be coming today.

I might have sat there for hours. The clouds hid the sun, so I had no measure of passing time.

But after a while of staring at the sky, I came to a decision. "I am not sitting here in this tree," I said loudly. "This is ridiculous. No one is coming. Not Link. Not anyone. I am not sitting here guarding a temple that no one is trying to get into. I'm leaving." I jumped down, landing in the dirt. It was really mud, but then, I was in a swamp.

"I'm leaving," I repeated, and walked into the swamp. The mud tugged at my boots, but I ignored it.

Mist twined through the branches of the twisted, leafless trees. Crows fluttered about overhead. A group of crows was called a murder, I recalled as I heard one _caw,_ and I shivered. The sky was definitely growing darker now, and the marshes seemed to grow colder rapidly. Fireflies darted, tiny little lights flashing between the trees. I looked around, trying to see a path. There was none.

There was a shriek from a crow and a wild flurry of flapping wings. I jumped and began to run as I heard a wail behind me. I didn't know what it was that made my breath catch and my heart race, but I didn't like it. I stumbled, tripping over a tree root, and went sprawling. My hand touched water. I stared at it, and color began to dart below its surface. I was shaking, but I saw a boy. In green, like a Kokiri. My eyes grew wide as I looked at him, running across a field, with a little blue something flying behind him...a fairy. Then I heard that awful wail again, and struggled to my feet. I looked around, desperate for a way out.

There! A light! I could see fine in the dark, but who else could? And a light like that, a blue light, meant a person. It was too big and too bright to be a firefly. It looked like...a fairy. Link!

I stumbled towards the light, knowing that whoever it was could lead me out of the swamp. It was really night now, and right away the marshes were less dangerous. Night was my kingdom. The misty air before me was tinted slightly red now. My senses spiked. My eyes pierced the darkness, though not the mist. I could hear every tiny noise. Now nothing was my equal, and everything was under my control. Still, I didn't know how to get out. So I went towards the light. There was a chill creeping through me, but I ignored it.

The light was moving. I could see that now. Moving away. I ran faster, slipping in the water, my feet catching in plants and on stones. But I had to reach the light. I had to get out of here.

Suddenly, as I was almost there, several things happened at once. The first was that I realized nothing was anywhere near the light. It moved all on its own. The second was that the mud, covered with an inch of water, became both much less stable and much stickier. I was sucked downwards. I struggled, and kept being pulled below the much deeper water. If my arms hadn't already been half-trapped, I would have slapped myself. It was a marshlight! I'd been tricked by a marshlight.

"Help! Help!" I knew no one would ever hear me, but I couldn't keep myself quiet. "A marshlight tricked me and I'm—NHK!" My cry for help was silenced as the water filled my mouth. I began panicking. I couldn't breathe! Then my whole head was submerged, and I was being pulled under the mud. I managed to work on hand free, and through the murky water I could see it, clawing the air as though I could pull myself out with the wind. Then darkness rushed in from the edges of my vision, and I was gone.


	2. Freedom

I opened my eyes and started coughing. My head hurt, and the pain stabbed harder every time I coughed, making my whole body convulse. I swallowed hard, took a shallow breath, and started coughing again. I was wet and dirty, I could still taste swamp water, and I hurt all over.

I'd never been happier in my life.

It was a strange thing. I'd never really been happy at all, but this was about the worst condition I'd ever been in. When I'd been worn ragged by training, I'd been better than this. When I'd been so miserable I'd starved myself half to death, I'd been better. But I hadn't ever really been happy before, and now I was.

I don't know what it was, looking back. Relief, I suppose. But some excitement, too. After who knew how long of doing nothing, something was _happening_ to me. And if that something involved nearly drowning because of a marshlight, if it meant being sick because I was full of swamp, so be it. It was something, at the least, and I liked it a whole lot better than nothing.

"So," said a voice behind me. I jumped. "You're awake."

"Took long enough," said another voice. I turned to see the speakers. I blinked at them. It was the boy in green and the blue fairy. I scowled at them then.

"Took you two long enough to get out here," I replied. "Nearly drowned, didn't I?" I spat out a mouthful of muddy water and glared at them. Especially the fairy. Why did he get a fairy, and I didn't? Shouldn't I have a fairy, too? It wasn't fair.

"That you did," replied Link, and then did a double take. "You knew I was coming?"

"I knew you were supposed to be coming," I corrected him. "If I thought you actually were, I'd have stayed put and not been sucked into the mud!"

"Oh," said Link. He had a slight lilt in his voice, not enough to be called an accent, but enough that I could hear it. I wondered if my voice sounded like that, too. He cocked his head and bit his lip, thinking hard.

"He's trying to blame us for his near drowning!" exploded the fairy. "How dare you, when we're the ones who saved you? I _told_ you, didn't I, Link? I _told_ you he'd be ungrateful, I was against the idea! I _told_ you it was just a waste of time! Link, why in the names of the Goddesses don't you ever _listen _to me, _honestly,_ I'm _always_ giving you perfectly good advice and you _never _ pay the slightest attention, I don't know why I bother..."

I had to laugh. I could see, in a way, why Link didn't listen to her. But I had to like this little sphere of light that was his fairy. And I had to be angry at Link for...what? I wasn't sure. I just knew that I was furious at him, furious for no reason that I could name.

"Navi, calm down," said Link in mild alarm. I smirked at his startled face. The fairy flew up and into a tree, and stayed there. I could imagine her face, if she had one: turned away from Link, nose in the air, eyes closed and mouth tight. I didn't know why I imagined her that way. I just did.

Link cocked his head again, looking at me with an expression of uncertainty. "Don't hurt yourself," said Navi from the tree. "You might if you think too hard."

"What's your name?" asked Link. I shrugged. His looked at me for a long minute and then turned towards Navi. "Will you please come down from that tree?"

Navi made a noise like "Hm!" and did not move. Link looked at her, open-mouthed, then shrugged and turned away. He began walking away.

"Hey, little fairy," I called to Navi. "Can you tell me which way to get out of the swamp?"

"See those funny crooked trees, that are sort of leaning against each other?" She flew in the direction of the trees, and I nodded. "Go through them and keep going straight, till you reach Hyrule Field."

"Thanks," I called after her as she flew away. Then I turned in the direction she'd indicated and walked on.

It was turning into evening again as Hyrule Field came into sight. I grinned and started running. The mud still pulled at my boots, but I didn't care. Twenty feet until freedom. I was fast, but the mud slowed me down. I'd be faster when I reached the field. Ten feet. I think I went faster in anticipation. Five. One. I was out of the swamp. I ran a few more feet before I slowed down. For the first time, I was free.

"No one telling me what to do now," I said. "No one's in charge of me. I'm in charge now!" It was the best feeling I'd ever had, to be my own master.

Dusk was coming again, which increased my sense of freedom. I walked boldly across the field, in no particular direction and towards no particular destination. It was enough that I was free at last of the swamp and the temple. I wandered aimlessly, save for the aim of never returning to the swamp. There was a river nearby, with a bridge across it. The water moved slowly, and I paused. I could see myself clearly in the gently rippling water. I knew myself, but it was as someone else's that I recognized my face. I closed my eyes and saw the same picture, save for a tiny difference. A fairy.

I crossed the bridge and shook my head, clearing it of the haunting sight of my own reflection.

As night fell, a creature began to climb out of the dirt before me. I stepped back, alarmed. It was a skeletal thing, with no lower jaw and its bones simply hanging together. A Stalfos! I walked slowly backwards, my eyes locked on its empty sockets. It advanced on me slowly, arms extended like a sleepwalker's. I retreated farther. It seemed to grin as it pushed me back. I touched something with my foot, and it moved. Pushing my foot forwards. I whirled and saw a second Stalfos.

I looked from one Stalfos to the other. More were raising themselves up from the earth. I ran. They gave chase, slowly, but with determination. Running was easy for me, and I was fast, but I wasn't tireless. Not so for the Stalfos. They were incredibly slow, but they were everywhere, and they didn't ever need to stop and rest.

There was a wall nearby. I made a mad dash for the entrance. More Stalfos clambered up and got in my way. I ran around them, unable to fight. I could hardly breathe with the effort of escaping.

I was through the wall, running up a sort of alley. There were Stalfos here, too! This whole field was infested with the skeletons. I ran. I hit something and fell back. The Stalfos were nowhere to be seen.

I looked up to see what I'd slammed into. Sitting opposite me was a girl. Her red hair glinted in the light of the lanterns hanging on the walls. She smiled, her dark eyes gleaming. "Oh! I'm sorry. Are you alright?"

I tried to reply, but I couldn't. My breath had stopped. For a moment, time seemed frozen. The girl sat there, still smiling, suspended in motion. My heart had stopped breathing. The flames stopped dancing. I didn't know if it was more than half a second that time had stopped. It felt like an eternity. An eternity of trying to say something, of looking at the girl. But whether it was the blink of an eye or a hundred years, a second later the world picked up where it had left off. "I'm fine."

She stood up and held her hand down to me. "Here." I reached out and took her extended hand. It seemed so small, so fragile. Her slender fingers curled around my bigger hand and she pulled me to my feet. She was stronger than she looked.

"I'm Malon," she said, taking her dress in her hand and curtsying. I bowed awkwardly, my sword getting in the way. She laughed, her sweet smile lighting up her face.

"Come on," she said. "You need somewhere to stay for the night, don't you? It's dangerous in Hyrule Field."

"Yeah," I said. "A bit."

Her eyes widened and her hands came up to her mouth. "Were you attacked by Stalfos?"

"Yeah." I felt stupid, saying that, but I had no other response. She grabbed my sleeve and led me farther into her home. She was shorter than me by an inch, maybe two. No more. I could see her smiling as she led me to the house. And in the warm light of the lamps, I smiled too.


	3. Firelight

I'm not sure what happened then. I suppose I misstepped. The ground wasn't even, and I wasn't being very cautious. But whatever caused it, when I took a step, my foot twisted and I fell. I howled as pain shot through my leg, as if someone had run a sword through my ankle. Malon screamed as I pulled her down on top of me, She released my arm quickly and got up. "Are you alright?" I could hear genuine concern in her voice. She leaned down over me as I sat up.

The pain in my ankle was unbearable. It was worse than the daily torture I'd received in battle training. My vision blurred with pain and a hot tear ran down my face. I felt ashamed of my tears, but it _hurt._ I tried to tell her, but my voice caught. I started crying silently, and Malon didn't care. She sat there, her dress sleeve against my face, letting my hot, salty tears splash onto her hands.

The pain subsided enough, and I stopped crying. As I bushed away the tears still in my eyes, Malon moved back a few inches. "Are you okay?" she asked again. Then she looked like she wanted to slap herself. "Oh. how can I ask that? Of course you aren't. But can you walk, do you think?"

"I-I think so," I whispered. She moved to my other side and helped me stand.

"Come on," she said. "Let's get you into the house. Come on, I'll help you." She led on. I limped after her, clenching my teeth against the pain that shot through me ever other step. A few feet from the door, my foot gave out below me and I fell against Malon. I felt her tense with the sudden weight, but she caught me and didn't fall. She supported me on my right side for the last few steps to the house.

As we entered, Malon closed the door softly behind. "Shh," she whispered. "Daddy's sleeping." I nodded and she half-dragged me over to a chair by the wooden table.

"Just sit there, okay? I'll put the kettle on and make some tea." She opened a cupboard and pulled out a copper kettle and two teacups. The cups she set on the table. and she filled the kettle before hanging it over the fire. I sat still, my foot still hurting, though it was more of a dull ache than shooting pain. I could feel the pulse in my ankle, which made it hurt worse.

"Here." Malon cinched shut a leather pouch and held it out to me. I looked at her blankly. "It's going to melt, silly!" she said, and forced it into my hands. It was freezing, so I guessed she'd filled it with ice. I looked at it, and back at her.

"Put your foot up on the chair, like this," she said, taking my foot and putting my leg up on a chair. "Now you just put the ice on, like that." She gently took it from my hand and laid it over my ankle. "Better?"

I nodded. The kettle whistled, and Malon grabbed it at once. She looked almost surprised.

"Forgot that it would do that," she said softly, before dropping tea satchels into the cups and pouring the water on. Steam rose from the cup in front of me, herb-scented steam. I waited for the tea to cool a bit before taking a sip. It was very good. Malon sat down across from me and smiled as she sipped her tea.

We sat in silence for a few minutes. The fire crackled, filling the room with orange light. I watched Malon. After a moment, she stood. "Wait here."

"Like I'm going anywhere," I pointed out.

She smiled and waved and ran from the room. I waited, staring at the fire. My thoughts were divided. I kept seeing Link with his fairy. Then I kept seeing myself, with my own fairy. Or maybe Link's fairy. That would work as well. And then I saw Malon. And once Malon faded from my mind, I saw Link again.

I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew was that Malon was shaking me gently. "Wake up, sleepyhead! I need to fix your foot."

"Fix it?" I mumbled, and opened my eyes. "How?"

"Well, not really fix it," she amended. "But help it. So you can walk, maybe."

"Oh." I watched as she showed me what she'd disappeared to get. A length of cloth and some sort of liquid. She Grabbed my boot and my leg and tugged. I winced as she slipped my boot off.

"This might hurt," she warned me as she found one end of the cloth. I nodded and clenched my teeth. I grimaced, but didn't cry out as she wrapped her cloth around my foot and ankle. Then she dumped the water over it. Except it couldn't have been water, because after only a few minutes it made the cloth get sort of hard. I couldn't move my foot at all anymore.

"Try to stand," she said, offering her hand. I pulled my boot on and used her as support as I got to my feet. It hurt, but I could stand, and it wasn't unbearably painful.

"Thanks." Thats was the only thing I could think of to say. I looked away from her, out the window. There was just a hint of pink light above Death Mountain. I shuddered, suddenly tired.

"You've been up all night," she said, touching my shoulder with her delicate hand. "If you don't get some sleep, you'll get lazy like Daddy!"

"Yeah," I said, grinning at the sunrise, grinning in response to her childish innocence. "Suppose I will. But I can't sleep." My smile vanished. "Not yet."

"Do you have to go somewhere?"

"Yes," I said, then changed my mind. "No." I paused. She didn't say anything, and I could see her face: eyes open wide, watching me, waiting for me to explain. "Well, sort of. Nowhere in particular. Just kind of...everywhere." I turned to look at her, knocking her hand off my shoulder. "You know what I mean?"

"I'm not sure," she said. "Is it that...that you haven't really done enough? That you sort of need to see all that you can?"

"In more ways than one," I agreed, not sure myself what I was talking about. But the words were true, I knew they were. I just didn't quite understand what they meant.

"Then you should go," she said as a Cucoo crowed loudly, summoning the day. "You need help?"

I took a tentative step. My ankle held, supported my weight. I walked across the room. It was painful, but I could do it.

"I'm fine," I said. "I'll go now."

I heard muttering from another room. Malon smiled and pressed a finger to her lips, then tiptoed out of the house. I followed her, watching as the sunrise lit her long curtain of red hair on fire. She walked down to the entrance, glancing back at me every few steps, always with a little secret smile on her face. I grinned at her in return.

Malon pressed something into my hand. I looked at it. It was a glass bottle filled with white. "Milk," I said surprised. She nodded, uncertain, shy. "Special milk," I finished. "Isn't it?" That made her smile.

"I hope you come back some time," she said as I walked past her, limping only slightly. I turned back to her. She was still smiling, but there was something in her eyes, something sad. She didn't say it out loud, but I could see the word on the tip of her tongue: _Please._

"I will," I told her, and she looked down. "I promise." Even though this time I knew what they meant, the words sounded strange to me. She looked back at me, and something in her gaze pierced into me. I knew that she knew I wasn't lying. She nodded then, as though satisfied with that knowledge.

"Well," she said, "I guess you'd better get going. After all," she said, her eyes twinkling, "you'd better hurry if you have to go everywhere and you still have to come back and talk to me." I laughed, and she waved. And with that, I turned and walked across Hyrule Field once again.


	4. Discovery

­I found that I liked the daylight nearly as much as I did the night. It didn't feel as much like _mine,_ but I didn't dislike it at all. And it was much more pleasant to walk across Hyrule Field without Stalfos chasing me.

The path split, and I stopped. In one direction lay the way I had come, but the path actually led to a st of stairs cut into the mountain. The other way led to Castle Town. I watched the drawbridge fall into place, and the looked around. Which way should I go?

I considered for a moment, then decided to see what was up the stairs. I already knew what Castle Town was. So I went left and climbed the stairs. When I turned, there were more stairs, and I frowned but continued up. And then, there was a village.

It was peaceful and quiet. A windmill turned slowly. Cuccoos wandered around aimlessly. I looked around, unsure, and saw a big building at the top of the terraced village. I had learned a long time ago that big buildings were usually important buildings, and so I walked up several flights of stairs until I reached the highest level. The door opened easily, and I stepped cautiously inside.

Row upon row upon row of bookshelves lined the walls. My eyes widened, flashing red in the dim light. "A library..."

I walked between the shelves, looking at the titles on the spines. Then one book caught my eye, a heavy red volume: _Peoples of Hyrule: History and Culture._

Slowly, I pulled down the book. I walked to the table and sat down, then flipped through the pages of the book. Hylians, the long-time rulers of Hyrule. The Kokiri, like Link, except Link was really Hylian. I'd heard bits and pieces about the Kokiri, which formed a rather general and fragmented knowledge of them, but I hadn't known everything, like that they couldn't leave the forest. Then the Gorons, who only ate rocks from Dodongo's Cavern; the Zora, who worshipped a fish and could stay underwater limitlessly; the Gerudo, a tribe comprised entirely of women save for one male born every hundred years; the Sheikah, red-eyed, second in magic to Hylians, and servants of the Royal Family.

I closed the book and returned it to the shelf. Then I wandered through the rows of books some more, dragging my feet.

There, a row of books which varied slightly in thickness but were all the same height and color—_Creatures of Hyrule._ I froze. Slowly, almost against my will, my hand rose and ran along the tops of the spines until my pale, shaking fingers touched _S-Sn. _I tipped the book forwards, of the shelf, and caught it in my other hand. The pages flapped, and I leaned against the shelf to stop myself from trembling so hard. I didn't even walk back to the table, just slid down to the floor and opened the blue-bound tome.

Too fast, almost fervently, I turned page after page. I almost missed the right one. My finger ran down the side of the page, and stopped at the top of an entry. I almost dropped the book. _Shadow-folk. _

My voice quivered slightly as I read out loud. "People conjured of shadows and dark magic. Perhaps one of the most dangerous creatures in Hyrule, because they are intelligent and can match their real twin in any kind of combat. They are physically better than Hylians, because of several alterations. They can run faster and tire slower, have natural weapons which Hylians do not, and have such advantages as night vision. However, they are susceptible to magic, and if their creator is destroyed and has left no other link to their power, the shadow will die."

I closed the book. The temperature of the library was the same, but I was suddenly very cold. I closed my eyes and let my head drop.

A creature. A _creature! _Nothing more than that, not even a person. The same class as cuccoos, as tektites, as dodongos. I barely even noticed as I slumped sideways. People walked down the aisle, and I stared at their feet, walking along the wall, without really seeing them. Shadows and dark magic. Evil. Dangerous. The shadow will die...

"Oh!" said a voice from above me. A pair of blue shoes appeared on the carpeted wall. I looked at the person to whom they belonged, and wondered vaguely how the young red-headed lady who was wearing them could stand sideways. "Are you alright, little boy?" she asked then, and I realized I was lying on the floor.

I sat up. "Yes'm."

"Here, why don't you come to my house," she said. "It's late, and I wouldn't want you locked in here for the night."

I was suddenly very tired. I followed her down to a small house, where dinner was sitting on the table. She served some for me as I sat down across from the other place. Then she sat down herself. "What's your name?"

I didn't reply, just poked at the meat on my plate and didn't eat any. "Is this cuccoo?"

She nodded. I didn't look at her.

After a moment, she spoke. "You have red eyes."

"I'm not _Sheikah,_" I told her miserably. I pushed the cucco around the blue and white plate. Then, a surge of rage went through me, and I plunged the fork down into the meat so hard that the plate broke.

"Oh, dear!" cried the young lady. "What's made you so angry? It wasn't me, was it?"

"No!" I shouted. "It's HIM!" All of a sudden, I was standing up. The chair hit the ground with a _bang._

There was a hesitation, a brief moment of silence as the night echoed around us. Even in the marshes it was never silent—there were wraiths that wailed, and insects whirring and clicking, and crows cawing softly. Here it was the same, though with different sounds: the creaking of the mill and the soft whisper of the wind, the cuccoos chuckling to themselves as they settled down to sleep, the crackling of the lady's fire. How could silence that wasn't really silence be so pressing? Finally, to my relief, she asked, "I-if you don't mind me asking, who is he, and why do you hate him so much?"

I laughed bitterly and humorlessly. "I'm here. Isn't that reason enough?" She looked confused, and the anger drained out of me. "Never mind." I picked up the chair and sat back down, and said calmly, "I'm sorry for breaking your plate. I don't have a name of my own, but what's yours?"

"A-Anju," she said quietly, uncertainly. _She's scared of me,_ I thought. _Does she know...or has she guessed? _It may say something about me that I never thought of the other alternative: that she was afraid because I had gotten so angry, and not because I was something dangerous.

I felt sorry for her. "I'll leave, now," I said, standing up again without knocking the chair over.

"You don't need to go," she said hastily. "I was just wondering...what you meant."

"What I meant?" This time I was the confused one. "What do _you_ mean?"

She blinked. "I don't really understand who it is you're angry at, or what it is he did to make you angry..."

"Sorcery," I said to my hands. "Sorcery and shadow." I looked at her, and considered. "That's my name. Shadow." I smiled, bitter and hopeless.

And without another word, I left.

Night fell over the village. I leaned against the cliff that bordered it, wishing I'd never come here. Then I walked out and didn't look back, because I wasn't going to think about this village anymore. As far as I was concerned, it didn't exist, and neither did the library. After all, if it didn't exist, no one could ever read the book. No one would ever know the truth. And that was what I really wanted.


	5. Darklight

I wandered around Kakariko Village until it was almost dark. Then I decided to go to Castle Town. So I left the village, walked down the stairs, and crossed Hyrule Field. I must have been distracted, because somehow I'd forgotten that the filed was full of Stalfos.

They surprised me, surrounding me before I even knew they were there. I look around for a way to escape. One of the skeleton warriors swung clumsily at me with its arm. I backed away and right into another Stalfos. This was a problem.

I turned around, stepped back, and scanned fruitlessly for an opening. The Stalfos kept swiping at me. Their complete lack of coordination was all that kept me from being hit. I watched the skeletons, wary. Then, suddenly, there was a loud crack. I turned to look at the Stalfos directly behind me. I blinked at it, slowly. What had made that sound? Red pulsed in front of my eyes each time my heart beat. Then, belatedly, pain shot through the back of my head. I realized dully that the Stalfos had finally managed a hit, and that was the last thing I thought before even the stars were gone.

I opened my eyes to see a girl with cropped black hair staring at the ceiling, tapping a rolled-up paper against the leg of her chair. She look proud and disdainful and scornful. I wasn't sure I liked her. But then, my mind was still blurry.

She looked at me, and I knew she didn't like me. The look in her eyes was pure loathing.

"I didn't know Sheikah were so pale," I said. My tongue felt too big for my mouth.

She blinked. "What are you _talking _about?"

"I'm not a Sheikah," I mumbled.

She sneered. "Amazing." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Why would I think you were a Sheikah?"

"You have red eyes," I pointed out.

"So do you." I could see her opinion of me growing lower and lower in the way her nose slowly wrinkled up more and more.

"But--" I began, then stopped. "You're Shadow Folk?"

She rolled her eyes and turned away, sighing in exasperation. "What do you think I am?" she snapped.

"Sorry," I snapped back. "I kind of got hit on the head by a Stalfos!"

"You're lucky I was there," she shot back. "No Hylian or anyone else would have helped you. You'd have to be pretty mindless in the first place to take on a swarm of Stalfos without any weapon or even a shield."

"I'd just found out what I was, thank you very much!" I shouted, jumping up. My head ached, but I ignored it. "I kind of forgot about them!"

"You didn't know you were a construct?" laughed the girl.

"I knew perfectly well I was a construct, as you so _gently_ put it! What I didn't know was that the majority of Hyrule considers me to be a monster!"

She didn't snap back, didn't react at all for a minute. The she turned to me. "You haven't met many Hylians, have you?"

"No," I said shortly.

"But you've met some."

"Yeah." I didn't see why it mattered.

"You couldn't _guess_ that they didn't like you?" she asked, amazed at my stupidity.

"They seemed to like me fine. The first saved my life, the second fixed my ankle, and the third gave me cuccoo." I kicked off my boot to show the girl where the white cloth was wrapped around my foot, holding it stiff. "Hard to run when you cant move your foot, anyways, else I'd have escaped those skeletons."

"Sure." She sounded skeptical.

"If my ankle wasn't broken, I'd show you." I sat down.

"Convenient," she sneered.

"Convenient? That I got attacked by a Stalfos and had to get found by _you?"_ _Convenient_ was Link being right on time to save me from drowning. _Convenient_ was the ranch being just within my reach running at top speed after having struggled through the marsh. _Convenient_ was Anju coming by the library and having a cuccoo cooking. Being cracked over the head by a skeleton and found by a snobby brat was anything but convenient, whether or not it had anything to do with my ankle.

"Convenient you don't have to show me how fast you can run." She scowled. "Inconvenient for me that since I found you, morally I should take care of you till you're better."

"You have morals?" I asked, shoving her. She glowered. "I'm Shadow," I added.

"Shadelyn," she snapped. "You listen to me, don't try anything, okay? Just don't."

I got her meaning. "You either," I retort. "You must have a reason for asking, but you'd be more likely to turn your back than I am."

She stamped her foot. "Shut up!" Her eyes blazed from ruby to scarlet. She tossed her head angrily. I smirked.

Very slowly, as though she was choosing each word with great care, Shadelyn spoke. "Shadow," she said deliberately, "I'm going to give you a month. And then I'm going to hunt you down. You can't hide forever. After a month, your foot should be better. And then..." She smirked. "Then we'll see who's laughing."

"Yeah, we will," I said cooly. "Now I'll leave, thanks."

She jerked her head at the entrance to the room, where light poured in. "Hyrule Field. Shadow folk or not, until you have a sword you'd better travel during the day."

"Thanks for the tip," I snapped. "Good-bye." I stormed away.

It was already nearly evening. The ranch rose up ahead like the sun over the mountains in the morning, when I'd seen it from the window. I walked directly towards the wall and, when I reached it, followed it to the entrance.

Malon was not there. A man with a scruffy mustache was leaning on a rake by the gate to the corral. "Where's Malon?" I asked.

"She's'a gone up to Castle Town with Mister Talon," said the man. I decided he must be a ranch hand. "What business've you got with the little girl's whereabouts?"

"I'm a friend of hers," I said defensively. "I came to visit her, and she isn't here?"

With that, I turned around and marched away, leaving the rude ranch hand speechless behind me.

I barely made it into Castle Town. The gate lifted up before I was even inside. I glared at the guard and stalked past. Then I heard something—the most beautiful sound, echoing hauntingly through the streets of Castle Town. I looked around for the source, and, not finding the owner of that incredible voice, continued into the square.

By the fountain, dressed in white, her red hair shining even in moonlight, was Malon. She was the one singing. I walked around the edge of the square and came up behind her. "You have a beautiful voice," I told her.

She jumped and stopped singing. "Thank you," she said when she saw it was me. "That's the song my mother wrote."

"Oh," I said. "It's pretty."

"Thanks." She giggled. "I'm waiting for Daddy. He went up to the Castle to deliver some milk, and he didn't come back yet. I bet he's just sleeping. Daddy always falls asleep!" She giggled again, and I grinned.

"Want me to go get him?" I offered.

"No, that's okay," she said. "He won't wake up till the cuccoo crows."

"Oh," I said.

She studied my face. "I met someone like you."

"Before me, or after?" I asked, laughing.

"After. Yesterday." She smiled. "Have you seen everything, yet?"

I laughed again. "Not yet."

"I was going to say," she said, giggling. "That would have been awful fast!" She thought for a moment, her eyes focused on a distant star. "He had on green clothes, not black , but other than that he looked just like you." She frowned an shook her head. "No, his hair was sandy gold color."

"Link," I said, the laughter dying away from my voice.

"You know him?" she looked up at me, curious. "What is your name, anyways?"

"Shadow," I said bitterly. "I love the darkness but not the light. I roam in the shade, but Hyrule Field is the only place I walk by daylight." I smiled, a twisted, forced smile. "I can run faster than anyone, and I can last for longer, but I can't fight off Stalfos with my bare hands."

"So get a sword," she suggested. "When it's morning, you can get one in that shop, I think."

"Right," I said. "And when I do, I'll go see what I haven't seen yet."

I sat on the edge of the fountain. Malon began singing again. I just listened to her until her voice faded away at the cuccoo's crow.

"See you," I said, and stood. Stretching, I walked over to the shop she'd pointed out.

There was, indeed, a plain shortsword for sale there. I picked it up, testing its weight.

"Do you have the hundred fifty rupees that costs?" asked the keeper.

"No," I admitted. "Can I pay you when I have them?"

"I'll need something of yours, to prove you'll come back," he said, distrustingly. I dug into my pocket and pulled out Malon's bottle of milk. "Milk?" he asked, incredulous. "You expect me to give you a sword in trade for _milk?"_

"Until I pay you a hundred and fifty rupees," I corrected. I dumped my wallet—twenty-three rupees--on the counter. "A hundred twenty-seven, now."

"Fine," he said, flinging up his hands. "Do you even know how to use it?"

"Yes," I snapped. "If you must know, I had one and lost it to the marsh."

"I see," he said. I turned and stalked out of the shop.

With one last glance at Malon—she didn't see me—I left Castle Town. Then I realized I didn't know where to start. After a moment's deliberation, I held out my sword and spun in a circle. Skirting around the ranch, I set off in that direction.

It was a long, hot walk across the field. After entering the way between two walls of stone, I came to a chasm with a broken bridge. How to get around this? I thoughts, then walked back to the mouth of the path. Running at full speed, I leaped exactly at the edge of the canyon.

Either the canyon was bigger that it looked, or I'd completely miscalculated my jump. I fell, landing hard on a ledge perhaps twenty feet below the edge. I wasn't injured by the fall itself, but pain seared up my leg. I closed my eyes against the shooting pain until it subsided.

Cautiously, I tested my weight. I winced as a sharp twinge went through my ankle and I nearly fell. My foot was useless—Malon's bandage had come loose, I suspected, and the fall had jarred my ankle even worse. I looked up the cliff. It was full of ridges and pockmarks, but climbing was going to be awfully hard with one hand holding a sword and only one good leg.

I would try it. But if I couldn't climb the cliff, I was very trapped.


	6. Meetings

It took me three tries to get up the cliff. When I finally dragged myself over the edge, my breath was ragged and my arms ached. Using the side of the broken bride for support, I got to my feet and hopped onwards.

Two things happened at once as I turned the corner. First, an immense fortress came into view. Second, a shadow flew over my head and a girl about my age landed on her feet in the sand. She drew two knives, each as long as my forearm, and took a fighting stance. "Halt, intruder!" she shouted. Her voice was very loud, and I'm sure she wanted to sound impressive, but all she managed was strident.

I drew my sword and pointed it at her. "I'm not in the mood to fight you."

She swallowed and tried to look at the tip of my sword. Her front teeth, too big for her mouth, showed over her lower lip. Then, with the ease of lots of practice, she backstepped and knocked my sword aside. I tried to stab her in the shoulder, forgetting about my ankle in my haste. My leg buckled under my weight, and I fell facefirst in the sand.

The girl bent over and pressed the tip of one of her knives to the back of my neck. "You win," I said through clenched teeth.

Her reaction surprised me. The knife was gone, and there were two dull thumps as she dropped both weapons in the sand. "Are you okay?" she asked. "I didn't mean to hurt you!"

"You didn't," I whimpered. The pain coursing through me was distracting me. "My ankle...was already hurt."

"I shouldn't have fought you," she said. "I should have noticed." She bent down and lifted me onto her shoulders. I didn't have the strength to speak, but I was impressed. She looked like a slight girl, but she was _strong. _

"Oof," she said. "You're...heavy!" She struggled through the sand.

"You don't have to carry me," I said quickly. "I can--"

"Of course I have to carry you," she said impatiently. "You're injured. You can hardly walk, and it's only fair I make sure your foot heals. I shouldn't have fought you, so I owe you."

"You don't..." I protested weakly, but she ignored me.

Another, smaller girl in torn white clothes ran up. "What are you doing?" she demanded of the girl carrying me. "Who's he?" Her voice was insistent and at least as loud as the first girl's.

"I fought him and didn't realize he was injured, Avie," said the first girl.

Avie frowned. "What are you doing with him?"

"I'm getting him to the healer. What else?"

Avie put her hands on her hips and glared at me. "Watch your step," she yelled, "cuz' I'm watching you!" With that, she ran off.

"Sorry about that," said the girl. "Avie's my best friend, and she's alright, but she can be _bossy_ when she wants to be."

"It's alright," I said.

"She thinks Hylians are lower than dirt," added the girl thoughtfully.

"I'm not Hylain. Hylians think _I'm_ lower than dirt."

"Oh," she said, and fell silent while she considered this. "Does that mean you're _lower_ than lower than dirt?"

"To your friend, maybe," I said, laughing.

"Her name's Avie. Aviel, actually, but everyone calls her Avie."

The girl carried me inside and flung me down on some cushions. I couldn't quite bite back a whimper of pain.

"Now, let me see," she said, and grabbed my boot.

"Ow! Get off! That _hurts!"_

She ignored me and yanked my boot off. Her long scarlet ponytail had flopped over her shoulder and was blocking my line of sight, but she gasped. "Oh! No _wonder_ you can't walk!" She sat back, and I saw what alarmed her so much.

My ankle was swollen to about twice its proper size. It was red and bleeding. But the worst part was the sharp shard of white that stuck out of my foot. Even I knew that it was bone. I felt sick at the sight of my foot ripped up from the inside. I turned my face away.

"Hey! Somebody! High Lady Jer—Namora! Anyone! Some random lower-than-lower-than-dirt kid is hurt real bad!" I had to laugh at the girl, who continued shouting. "Somebody! Anyone! I need some—ummmmmmm..." Her voice trailed off, and she said in a small and squeaky one, "I kind of meant, anyone but you, uh, sir, Majesty, highness..."

I turned my head to see a boy, older than the girl, but with the same scarlet hair. He stood head and shoulders over her, though perhaps it was partly because she had shrunk back in a sudden and very surprising show of timidity. His shoulders were broad and he was dressed in fancy armor and a gray-blue cape. "Who is this?" he asked. His accent was heavier than the girl's.

"Ah—I, um, found—that is--" said the girl nervously. "He's...er..."

The boy rolled his eyes. "Sandbrain." He walked over to me and saw my foot. "Ooh. No wonder you took him in here. I'll get someone to help."

He whirled and took of running. The girl stared after him, looking dazed.

"I hope he'll get someone to come fast. My foot is _killing _me," I told her.

She fixed me with a cool gaze. "Of course he'll get someone to come fast. _He's_ going to be our king someday."

"Oh," I said. "Who's your king now?"

She rolled her eyes. "Sandbrain! We don't _have_ a king 'til he's strong enough to lift the dragon blade. I've tried to lift it, and it's _heavy! _Right now his mother's our High Lady."

Just then, the boy who was going to be king ran in. "She's...coming," he panted.

"Oh," said the girl quietly. "That's...good..."

The boy shook his head violently. "_Nen!_ She's not here because she's bringing the Guard! _She's going to have him executed!"_


End file.
